Ise Bay and Chukyo Metropolitan Area, Japan – November 19th, 2009

Ise Bay, in Japan, is surrounded by large grey urban areas that creep up the mountains of Honshu Island. The bay is located at the mouth of the Kiso River, between the Mie and Aichi Prefectures.

Ise Bay has an average depth of 19.5 metres, and a maximum depth of 30 metres toward the centre of the Bay. The mouth of the bay is 9 kilometres wide and is connected to the smaller Mikawa Bay by two channels, the Nakayama Channel and the Morosaki Channel. Mikawa Bay is subsequently joined to the Pacific Ocean by the Irako Channel which ranges from 50 to 100 metres in depth.

Much of the surrounding urban area visible here is known as Chūkyō, a major metropolitan area that is centered on the city of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture. The area makes up the most urban part of the Tōkai Region.

The population (as of 2000) of 8,739,000 over an area of 6,380 square kilometers. It is among the 50 most populous metropolitan areas in the world and is Japan’s third most populous metropolitan area, containing roughly 7% of Japan’s population.